1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, and an image forming method, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus and method capable of performing integrated copying.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a widespread use of an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, of a type configured to perform so-called integrated copying, by which plural pages of documents placed on the document table are read and the sizes of plural document images obtained by the reading are reduced and integrated to make a copy of these document images on a single recording sheet (see, for example, JP-A-2001-148774). When performing integrated copying, for example, in a case where two or four pages of documents are integrated into a single recording sheet, as are shown in FIG. 14A or 14B, the user is requested to choose one integration pattern among integration patterns denoted by reference numerals 901 through 904 or reference numerals 905 through 908.
In the prior art, however, the integration patterns are predetermined, that is, they are formatted, and the user is allowed to make an integrated copy only in an integration pattern chosen from the formatted integration patterns. When the user wishes to make an integrated copy in an integration pattern other than the predetermined ones, he or she has to make reduced copies and lay out the reduced copies in an integrated pattern he or she desires, which takes a considerable time and labor.